Ramblings from Oz

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

It's a perfectly Orwellian scenario, the Feds doing for themselves and sticking it to the peasants, and all the while telling them it's for their own good.

Here's something to get the old BP up into the danger zone,

' "I about fell off my chair when I saw that the number of federal employees making more than $150,000 have more than doubled in the last 18 months," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican.'

Kinda makes ya sick to think about that one, dunnit?

And following up that piece of trivia, one of the finest non-sequiturs that I've ever read, attempting to do the magician's stock-in-trade misdirection schtick,

"Federal workers are always an easy target," said Jessica Klement, director of government affairs for the Federal Managers Association. "People think of the government bureaucrat with a job for life — but that doesn't tell the whole story."

And what is that story, bitch? Did you have something else to add? If you did, the schmuck who wrote the story didn't include it, but I figure that you felt as though you'd answered the question that was posited to you, and I'm just as certain that you have no idea that you didn't.

Yet more to stick in your craw,

"...The governmentwide average salary for a public affairs officer is $84,442. Providing legal counsel to the Peace Corps pays $144,222; a podiatrist in the federal government is paid $139,756."

What the fuck does the Peace Corps need with an on-staff lawyer?

Oh well.

I figure this type of thing can't go on too much longer. The natives will get too restless if they feel like they are being denied their cake by the Feds. I just hope the beheadings will be televised.

Friday, December 18, 2009

I was far more surprised when the consortium, lead by Koenigsegg, tossed their hat into the ring to buy the brand from GM. Spyker is/was an even bigger farce for attempting the purchase, and I wasn't surprised after the deal fell through in a mere two weeks of negotiation.

My biggest question for GM is this, why the fuck wouldn't you unload that money-sucker when you had the chance? Getting something for it, like cash, would have been a hell of a lot better than closing the brand and taking the brunt of it on the chin, wouldn't it?

I've nothing in this whole bit to lose, since I don't own a Saab and never have, as they've always been way too expensive and low value for the dollar, for me at least. Dealer-sourced parts are required for more repairs than some other brands too, and I spent a number of years in the parts business, so this isn't mere conjecture. I suppose I've never really understood the mystique of the brand either, as I've never been all that impressed with front-drivers, and turbo-charged acceleration, a hallmark of the brand, is a double-edged sword, with failure rates that have always been too high, and even today, haven't been adequately resolved, in my opinion.

Oh well, they are about to join the Dodo bird, and for the similar reasons, is seems.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

We have ourselves a rather heated debate going on over at Tam's regarding what the definition of "is,' is.

I'm squarely in the same camp as the gracious hostess, with others flapping their keyboards about "made up" rights, or some other non-sense.

I'll never understand what others don't get about what's pretty clearly stated in the Fourth Amendment, as well as the Ninth. The document be damned, really, as to what it does or doesn't say, the issue at hand is about a clear, ethical underpinning, with a respect for individuals and all of their property. That is none of anyone else's business, be it a private matter, nor public.

Anyone who knows something about advertising could tell you that the posters Greenpeace are using in Copenhagen are directly targeting the self-image of those whose images are depicted.

Attempting to get Barry(and Angie and Nicolas) to look at himself as an old man now is suggesting to him that he can do the impossible, fend off age and decreptitude by agreeing to onerous and crippling treaties and legislation that will severely limit growth...all so he can feel better about himself, while telling the whole fucking world about it too. It's a scare tactic, nothing more.

Note to self: Sharpen knife skills.

Note to Greeniks: Piss off. I'm using as much gasoline for as long as I can for powering an American vintage piece of iron. I'm currently supplementing my gas furnace with a wood-burning fireplace in a suburban house that is about 32 miles, one way, from where I work.

I look forward to a future confrontation with whomever feels they need to tell me about how I'm killing the fucking planet.

Monday, December 07, 2009

Pulling out the sucker punches and low blows while they are currently taking a fair fight on the chin, it should come as no surprise that the usual suspects are doing whatever it takes to sway the masses and pull the wool over the eyes of the easily fooled.

The AGW death cult has no ethics, only an agenda of subjugation, and that is all.

Dirt takes them to task in his always unique way with one of the finest fiskings I've ever read on any subject.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

"...called Goldman Sachs spokesman Lucas van Praag to ask whether it’s true that Goldman partners feel they need handguns to protect themselves from the angry proletariat. He didn’t call me back. The New York Police Department has told me that “as a preliminary matter” it believes some of the bankers I inquired about do have pistol permits. The NYPD also said it will be a while before it can name names..."

This very moment in history is marking a decided escalation of what has been, until now, nothing more than a proxy war. Its eventualities are pretty well documented and it's clearly moving toward, as Karl von Clausewitz said, a continuation of politics by other means.

Please note this bit, from the Obvious File, with certain emphasis,

"Henry Paulson, U.S. Treasury secretary during the bailout and a former Goldman Sachs CEO, let it slip during testimony to Congress last summer when he explained why it was so critical to bail out Goldman Sachs, and -- oh yes -- the other banks. People “were unhappy with the big discrepancies in wealth, but they at least believed in the system and in some form of market-driven capitalism. But if we had a complete meltdown, it could lead to people questioning the basis of the system.”

Torn Curtain

There you have it. The bailout was meant to keep the curtain drawn on the way the rich make money, not from the free market, but from the lack of one..."

An admission like this could be the straw that lay a bit too heavily upon the camel's back. Let us hope it does.